The Onion's rejected purchase of Infowars in an auction bid supported by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting dealt them a new setback Wednesday and clouded the future of Alex Jones' conspiracy theory platform, which is now poised to remain in his control for at least the near future. What's next for Infowars and Sandy Hook families' long-sought efforts to hold Jones accountable over calling one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history a hoax was unclear, after a federal judge in Houston late Tuesday rejected The Onion's winning bid for the site . U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said he did not want another auction but offered no roadmap over how to proceed. One possibility includes ultimately allowing Sandy Hook families — who comprise most of Jones' creditors — to return to state courts in Connecticut and Texas to collect on the nearly $1.5 billion in defamation and emotional distress lawsuit judgments that Jones was ordered to pay them. “Our hope is that when this process ends, and it will end, and it will end sooner rather than later, is that all assets that Alex Jones has available are paid to the families, and that includes Infowars, and that as a result of that process Alex Jones is deprived of the ownership and control of the platform that he’s used to hurt so many people,” Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said in a phone interview Wednesday. The families, meanwhile, were preparing the mark the 12th anniversary of the Dec. 14 shooting. The sale of Infowars is part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy case , which he filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay the $1.5 billion. Jones was sued for repeatedly saying on his show that the 2012 massacre of 20 first graders and six educators was staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control. Lopez said there was a lack of transparency in the bidding process and too much confusion about The Onion's bid. He also said the amount of money offered in the only two bids was too low and there needed to be more effort to try to raise as much money possible from the selling of Infowars' assets. The Onion's parent company, Global Tetrahedron, submitted a $1.75 million cash offer with plans to kick Jones out and relaunch Infowars in January as a parody . The bid also included a deal with many of the Sandy Hook families for them to forgo $750,000 of their auction proceeds and give it to other creditors. Lopez called it a complex arrangement that led to different interpretations of the bid's actual value as well as last-minute changes to a proposed sale order. The other bidder was First United American Companies, which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements and planned to let Jones stay on the Infowars platforms. It offered $3.5 million in cash and later, with Jones, alleged fraud and collusion in the bidding process. Lopez rejected the allegations, saying that while mistakes were made there was no wrongdoing. Christopher Murray, the trustee who oversaw the auction, said he picked The Onion and its deal with the Sandy Hook families because it would have provided more money to Jones' other creditors. The next steps remained unclear Wednesday. The judge directed Murray to come up with a new plan to move forward. Murray and representatives of The Onion did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The judge said there was a possibility there could be a trial in 2025 to settle Jones' bankruptcy. He said Murray could try to sell the equity in Infowars' parent company. He also said Murray could abandon the efforts, which could allow the Sandy Hook families to return to the state courts where they won their lawsuits against Jones and begin collection proceedings against him. The judge said he wanted to hear back from Murray and others involved in the bankruptcy within 30 days on a plan to move forward. Mattei, who represented the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut lawsuit, said everyone is waiting to see what plan the trustee comes up with. Jones, meanwhile, continued to allege fraud and collusion on his show Wednesday and threatened legal action over what he called an attempted “rigged auction.” On the social media platform X, he called the judge's ruling a “Major Victory For Freedom Of The Press & Due Process." “I don’t want to have to go after these people, lawsuit-wise, but we have to because if you don’t then you’re aiding and abetting and they do it to other people. They made some big mistakes," he said. It's a solemn and heartbreaking week for relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The 12th anniversary is Saturday, and some of the victims' relatives were traveling to Washington, D.C., to attend the annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence on Wednesday evening. The families usually mark the anniversary out of the public eye. Many of the families said their lawsuits against Jones bought back the unbearable pain of losing their loved ones, as well as the trauma of being harassed and threatened by believers of Jones' hoax conspiracy. Relatives said they have been confronted in public by hoax believers and received death and rape threats. Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter Emilie was killed, testified at the Connecticut lawsuit trial in 2022 that the decade of abuse his family suffered made them move across the country to Washington state, and even there he was accosted in person. The families have not received any money from Jones since winning the trials. Jones has been appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments, and has since conceded that the shooting did happen. Last week, a Connecticut appeals court upheld most of the judgment in that state but reduced it by $150 million. Associated Press writer Juan A. Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.Edward Little Coach Rick Kramer calls a play during an Oct. 11 football game against Windham. Kramer has resigned after leading the Red Eddies for three seasons. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Rick Kramer said the Edward Little High football program had “turned a corner” and was heading in the right direction. So stepping away isn’t easy, but a career change made it necessary. Kramer resigned this week after three seasons as the Red Eddies’ head coach because he recently accepted the position of Executive Director of the Maine Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (Maine AHPERD). He will be in charge of professional development for teachers across the state, as well as curriculum for health education and recreation in Maine schools. “Sometimes you think you can satisfy the appetite for all the other things that’s going to take time from you, and that you’ve got all the time in the world,” Kramer said. “You sit back with your spouse and you start analyzing how much time you’re going to spend on different things, and you realize there’s somebody else really that needs a lot of your time, too. It’s you and your spouse. I think it’s time for me to give myself and my spouse and this other work entity the time that I have.” The Red Eddies went 3-24 during Kramer’s tenure, including 1-8 this past season. He initially spent a season with the program as an assistant for previous coach Dave Sterling in 2016, which made him eager to return in 2022 when he was hired as the head coach. “Three years ago, I came back because I had a great experience back in (2016),” Kramer said. “I did a year with Coach Sterling, and I worked as a defensive coordinator for him, and I like the kids, I liked what the kids are about. There were some hard kids, some tough kids at the time, and I’m like, those kids, they needed me. We did a great job.” Kramer said he’s been involved in Maine AHPERD for decades and was approached to apply for the executive director position last summer. After discussions with his family, Kramer said he realized he had more to give than just teaching and coaching. The hardest part of stepping away from Edward Little football has been the feeling that he’s letting the current players down. He said it’s especially tough because the Red Eddies “just turned the corner,” growing the roster from 30 players three years ago to 65 this season. The Red Eddies’ next coach, Kramer added, will inherit a program progressing toward success, whether Edward Little remains in Class A or drops to Class B. Athletic Director Todd Sampson had scheduled a community meeting for Wednesday to discuss a possible petition to move the program from Class A North to Class B North . Sampson announced on social media Wednesday morning that the meeting has been postponed. Sampson later told the Sun Journal that the postponement was due to both Kramer’s resignation and a scheduling conflict that would have prevented Superintendent Susan Dorris from attending. Edward Little football coach Rick Kramer talks to his team before the Red Eddies’ 2023 season opener against Noble. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal “I think there’s positivity in the future, I think there’s an opportunity for kids to compete, no matter what level we’re at, Class A or Class B,” Kramer said. “But what you have to understand is that kids have to overcome the idea that they don’t have to prepare all year. If you’re going to play Class A football, you have to physically prepare all year long.” That’s why he encouraged 20 football players to wrestle for Edward Little this winter. Kramer said schools like Noble have entire starting lines of football players who wrestle, and wrestling-specific cross training should benefit the program in the future. Though the Red Eddies won only three games in three seasons, Kramer said the program showed a lot of growth, especially considering they didn’t have a practice field in 2022 while the new high school and athletic complex were being constructed. The new field was ready for use last year, but Kramer said the team still had to practice inside the gymnasium once a week because there was no regular practice field. “I think watching the program develop was great at Edward Little,” Kramer said. “I’m excited because next year there’s going to be a practice field, and they can practice at the same time every day; that’s going to make a huge difference.” Kramer said he’s thankful to the community, and all the players who committed their time and effort to the program. “I wish we could have had more wins, but I can tell you toward the end of this year, it was easy to see that we we had turned the corner, because of what would you call the esprit de corps ,” Kramer said. “The team was excellent toward the end, and they knew they were up against it. They knew they were trying to do the best job they could, and we had to do things unconventionally sometimes on defense to try to stop anybody.” We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe . Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previousgoalkeeper Jordan Pickford was 'lucky not to break his leg' following a challenge from midfielder Christian Norgaard. Minutes before half-time in the Toffees and Bees clash at Goodison Park, Norgaard was sent off for a shocking challenge that saw him plant his studs into Everton goalkeeper Pickford's right leg. The England number one could be seen shouting in pain following the challenge, which Norgaard was not initially sent off for. However, following a VAR check, referee Chris Kavanagh sent Norgaard off. While Norgaard did not look to be deliberately intending to injure Pickford, it was a nasty challenge from the Danish midfielder, who was correctly sent off for the shocking challenge. And it had fans on social media saying the Everton star was lucky not to have broken his leg following Norgaard's challenge. One fan wrote on X: "100% sending off, how can he argue that! How Pickford hasn't broke his leg is a miracle!" A second said: "Man, Pickford could've so easily broken his leg there." A third commented: "Pickford is lucky that he didn't break his leg." Come and join The Daily Star on , the social media site set up by ex-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey. It's now the new go-to place for content after a mass exodus of the Elon Musk-owned Twitter/X. Fear not, we're not leaving , but we are jumping on the bandwagon. So come find our new account on , and see us social better than the rest. You can also learn more about The Daily Star team in what Bluesky calls a . So what are you waiting for?! Let's A fourth said: "100% a red card for Norgaard. You as a player are responsible for your actions and the consequences of those actions. He straightens his leg and connects with force on Pickford’s knee. It’s endangering the safety of the player, excessive force, and a justified red." And a fifth wrote: "Not sure what Brentford are complaining about there" adding: "whether intentional or not, he could’ve folded Pickford knee." Earlier in the day, there was another shocking challenge in Chelsea's 2-1 win over when Foxes midfielder Wilfred Ndidi planted his studs on Cole Palmer's ankle, only to be given a yellow card.niceph bet 。

Old friends Conners and Henderson reunite at Grant Thornton Invitational

Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time

Mikel Arteta admitted the return of captain Martin Odegaard was the spark which reignited Arsenal’s title charge. Stunning strikes from Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey and a first Premier League goal for Ethan Nwaneri sank Nottingham Forest 3-0 and ended the Gunners’ four-match winless streak. Advertisement But it was the performance of Odegaard, on his first appearance at the Emirates since August after a two-month injury absence, which provided the platform for a comprehensive victory. Mikel Arteta knows Odegaard is key to his side (John Walton/PA) Arteta, celebrating his 250th match in charge of the club, said: “We talk about fluidity, understanding, chemistry, timing, he’s one of the best to do that; to manage the tempo of the game, when to slow it down, when to control it. Advertisement “It’s very difficult to do after five or six weeks out. It doesn’t surprise me because I’ve seen him every day, how he looks after himself, how much he wants it, the energy that he puts in and the courage that he has to play in any circumstances. “Obviously, when he’s in the team, you can sense something that is different. It’s difficult to put a finger on it, but it’s different. “Obviously he’s been missed. It’s good that we could sub him because he started to get tired and was fading a bit. Advertisement “Then Ethan comes on and ‘whoop’, it lifts the crowd. You can sense how much the crowd loves watching this kid play and the energy.” Arsenal were already well in charge, through Saka’s fine run and shot and a piledriver from Partey, when Arteta sent on Nwaneri. Advertisement At 17 years and eight months old, he became Arsenal’s second-youngest Premier League goalscorer and the 10th-youngest in Premier League history, when he tucked in a cross from Raheem Sterling. Gunners fans have been clamouring to see more of the exciting youngster, especially during Odegaard’s absence. But Arteta warned: “I am responsible to build a career for him. You have to do that brick by brick. Advertisement Ethan Nwaneri scored his first Premier League goal (John Walton/PA) “Today he put another brick on. Now we have to put more cement, make sure it doesn’t get dry so we can put another one and that will stick. “Then we put one more layer, one more layer. If you want to put five in a row believe me it won’t work. We have to manage not only his expectation but his load as well, which is really important.” Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo left top scorer Chris Wood on the bench for an hour, by which time the game was all but over. “It was not a good performance,” he said. “We came up short in all aspects of the game. We have to put it right immediately. “They killed the game with the second and third goals. It was a tough day for us.”Deion Sanders, Colorado's Spot Revealed in Final CFP Rankings After Bracket SelectionUnwrap the latest AI features with Amazon Fire Tablets

Forspoken probably isn’t destined for a comeback any time soon, but PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers on PlayStation 5 can try its surprisingly smooth fantasy parkour for free starting Dec. 17, Sony announced Wednesday . It’s joined by some other notable games this month, including Sonic Frontiers , A Space for the Unbound , PHOGS! , and Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy . However, none of them can match the rush of vaulting and sliding through Square Enix’s pretty — if a little bland — open-world action RPG from last year. Although the critical response was mixed on whether or not Forspoken could stand next to the sprawling adventures in games like Final Fantasy 7: Remake , there were a few fans of main character Frey’s acrobatic finesse. Through her “Flow” ability, she can leap and slide over objects in the environment while you hold down a single button — no finger gymnastics required. And it works in combat, too, letting her dodge and flee from enemies unscathed. In our review , Grayson Morley praised the ability’s traversal and the many ways you can expand it throughout the story, but found that it’s cut short just as it all starts to come together. “By the time you get a fourth set of magical abilities, the game feels like it’s finally opening up, with a full suite of powers available to you, a feeling immediately undercut by the fact that it’s actually ending,” Morley wrote. That sounds like the perfect kind of game to sample guilt-free with a PS Plus subscription, if you ask me. Maybe it won’t satisfy you for 40 hours, but for 5 or 10? That’s a holiday treat. Forspoken’s story even takes place a few days before Christmas; this could be your new tradition. Forspoken will be available for both Extra and Premium PS Plus subscribers starting Dec. 17. Gaming News PlayStation Forspoken

AP Trending SummaryBrief at 5:06 p.m. ESTRegina Daniels shares adorable video of her with Ned Nwoko after his Moroccan wife's viral post

Miles to go: on one year of the Congress government in Telangana

Clashes between Syrian Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian militias could be one of the biggest potential problems in Syria as the country grapples with life after dictator Bashar Assad. One of the biggest risks for Syria's peaceful transition lies in the country's northeast. While many Syrian Arabs around the country were celebrating the demise of the regime headed by Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and the end of a long-running civil war, Syrian Kurds in the northeast were facing an existential crisis. Clashes between Syrian fighters backed by Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces were of great concern United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pederson said this week. The other immediate areas of concern are Israel's ongoing incursions into Syria and the protection of Syria's minorities. What is happening in the northeast? Fighting in the Syrian civil war had been frozen for years, and the opposition groups controlling their different areas in the north tended not to clash. But over the past few days, fighting erupted again. After the fall of the Assad regime , the so-called Syrian National Army (SNA), a group of fighters backed by Turkey, has tried to advance into areas controlled by Syrian Kurds. The Turkish government opposes the Kurdish presence on their border, seeing them as a threat. This is because of a long-running Kurdish struggle for independence in Turkey that has often turned violent. As the Turkish-backed militias have advanced, the Syrian Kurdish forces there, known as the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), have lost territory. Turkey has also used airstrikes and drones to support the SNA's advance. On Tuesday, the two parties said they negotiated a ceasefire agreement with help from the United States. This will involve the withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish forces from some of the areas they previously controlled. Another rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has taken control of the Arab-majority city of Deir al-Zour . The SDF withdrew from there following local unrest. The US-trained Syrian Free Army (SFA) has also taken some terrain here. The SDF has now said it is open to participating in a new political process in Syria. Why is it happening? The Kurdish people are often described as one of the biggest ethnic groups in the world without a country of their own. If they did have a country, it would lie in the Kurdish-majority areas where Iraq , Iran, Syria and Turkey meet. There is a Kurdish independence movement in each of those countries, whose members have lobbied and even fought for an independent state or Kurdish autonomy, with varying degrees of success. Kurdish independence movements in each of the countries have also been repressed by their respective governments — also with varying degrees of success. In Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, turned to violence to try to achieve their aims. In Syria, near the start of the civil war, around 2012, the forces of now-deposed dictator Assad, withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas in northeastern and eastern Syria without much of a fight. The move was not without controversy . Syrian Arab revolutionaries said they didn't want the Kurds to be independent from Syria and that the country should remain united. There was also scurrilous talk about whether the Kurds had betrayed the original objectives of Syria's revolutionaries, to overthrow the regime, and that in a bid to pursue their own goal of Kurdish independence, the Kurds would maintain neutrality in the civil war. The Kurds never really fought against Assad's forces, and this alleged "betrayal" caused antipathy between Syrian Arabs and Syrian Kurds, layered on top of previous ethnic tensions and racism. During the 13-year civil war, the US got involved with Syria's Kurds, allying with them to combat the extremist group known as the "Islamic State" (IS) . The group came from Iraq and, taking advantage of the chaos of the civil war, set up a "Syrian capital" for its planned "caliphate" in Raqqa. US and Kurdish forces were the major players in the fight against the IS group in Syria. And while fighting against the IS group, Syrian Kurds also expanded the terrain under their control, including Arab-majority areas like Raqqa and Deir al-Zour. Locals have protested against the Kurdish leadership there, including this week when they insisted the Kurdish forces allow other rebel groups to enter. All these issues, past and present, remain at the root of the problems the Syrian Kurds are now dealing with. Now that the Assad regime has gone, they are being squeezed between Syrian Arab groups and Turkey, with the US as their only ally. In fact, one of the questions that most worries Syria's Kurds is how long the American alliance will last after President-elect Donald Trump reenters the White House. There are fears the incoming Trump administration will withdraw US soldiers from Syria altogether, abandoning the Kurds. Currently, there are still an estimated 900 US soldiers in the country. Syrian minorities wary of HTS's promises of inclusivity To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Why does it matter? An estimated 4.6 million people were previously living in the Kurdish-controlled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, or AANES. The area is also often called Rojava by local Kurds and was also home to Kurds from Iraq, Turkey and Iran. Since fighting began this week, the UN estimates over 100,000 people in the area have fled the fighting, most of them Kurds. Several hundred people have been killed in the fighting. Apart from the humanitarian aspects of the situation, the territory the Kurds held included most of Syria's oil fields and was also a major wheat producer. In particular, control over Syria's oil fields will be important to the new government, as income from them will help the country's devastated economy . Experts also suggest the Turkish-backed SNA's race to grab as much territory as possible goes beyond Turkish aims to get the Kurds off the border. Territorial control is also about leverage and power as the next Syrian government is formed. Additionally, the SDF runs large prison camps in northeastern Syria, which house thousands of former IS extremists. Previously, SDF fighters have said that if they are attacked, they'll be forced to leave the prison camps unguarded. Edited by: Sean M. Sinico

REFORM, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge ruled that the family of former NFL player Glenn Foster Jr., who died in law enforcement custody in Alabama, can pursue a lawsuit alleging his death was the result of excessive force. Foster, a former New Orleans Saints defensive end, died on Dec. 6, 2021, three days after being arrested and taken to jail in rural Pickens County for alleged speeding and attempting to elude police. A judge ordered Foster taken to a medical facility in Tuscaloosa for a mental evaluation. Foster was found unresponsive in the back of a law enforcement vehicle when he arrived at the facility. He was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later. His widow, Pamela Foster, filed a lawsuit against officers at the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office and jail saying Foster had been beaten, shocked with a Taser and strangled while at the jail. The defendants then asked a federal judge to dismiss the case. U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon ruled Thursday refused to dismiss allegations of excessive force and failure to intervene. Axon dismissed other portions of the lawsuit. The ruling came a day before the third anniversary of Foster’s death. Foster appeared in 17 games for the Saints in 2013 and 2014.'Merry construction': Valletta’s Christmas tree sparks backlash

Washington, as it turns out, moved to the right in the 2024 presidential election, just like every other state. In the days immediately after the election, it appeared Donald Trump had underperformed in Washington compared with 2020, the opposite of what happened across the rest of the nation. A number of news outlets, including The Seattle Times, reported Washington had bucked the national trend and moved to the left in 2024. It was true at the time, but it didn’t hold. Trump’s percentage in the state increased a little as more votes were counted. As of Tuesday, he won about 39% of ballots cast, outperforming his 38.8% result in 2020. Of course, that’s a tiny change, and Kamala Harris easily won Washington with around 57.3% of the vote. As far rightward swings go, this one was minuscule. Some local Democrats, I imagine, may have taken pride in reports that the state was an outlier in this national swing to the right, so the fact that it turned out not be true will come as a disappointment. But for what it’s worth, many Washington counties did shift left, even though the state overall did not. Analysis of election results as of Tuesday shows in 17 of the state’s 39 counties, Trump did worse this year than he did in 2020. Nearly half of WA counties shifted leftward in 2024 In 17 of Washington’s 39 counties, Donald Trump got a lower share of the vote in 2024 than he did in 2020. In the other 22 counties, Trump outperformed his 2020 numbers. The largest shift to the left was in Jefferson County and the largest to the right was in Franklin County. Source: Analysis of data from Washington secretary of state (Reporting by Gene Balk, graphic by Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times) King County isn’t among those 17, but the improvement in Trump’s performance in the state’s most populous county this year was negligible. In 2020, Trump got about 22.2% of the vote in King, only a fraction lower than the 22.3% he won in 2024. In fact, this change in Trump’s percentage was the smallest of any county in the state. Snohomish and Pierce counties also shifted right in 2024, both by less than 1 percentage point. In Kitsap County, though, Trump did worse this year by more than 1 percentage point. Among the counties that moved to the left, the biggest change was in Jefferson County, where Port Townsend is located. This year, Trump only won 25.2% of the vote in Jefferson, which is one of the bluest counties in the state. In 2020, Trump got 28% of the vote, meaning Jefferson County swung away from the Republican ticket by nearly 3 percentage points. Adjacent Clallam County, home to Port Angeles, had the second biggest shift to the left among Washington counties. Clallam is also a reliably Democratic county, though not nearly as blue as Jefferson. This year, Trump won 44.5% of the vote in Clallam, down from 46.8% in 2020. Another Puget Sound county rounds out the top three: Island, which includes Oak Harbor, moved to the left by more than 2 percentage points. In 2020, Trump won 42.2% of the vote, but only managed to get around 40% in 2024. The majority of the state’s counties — 22 of them — moved to the right in this year’s election, and for a few on the eastern side of the state, the shift was quite large. Franklin County, where Pasco is located, had the state’s most dramatic shift to the right. While Trump handily won Franklin in 2020 with 55.7% of the vote, he improved his performance here by more than 4 percentage points, winning 60.1% this time. Adams County also moved to the right by a little over 4 percentage points, with Trump increasing his share of the vote from 66.6% in 2020 to 70.7% in 2024. Yakima ranked third by this metric, with a rightward swing of 3 points. Trump won 52.6% in 2020 and 55.6% this year. Trump only won 22.2% of the vote in San Juan County, which comprises the San Juan Islands, the lowest percentage of any county in the state. That was down about 1 percentage point from 2020. In that election year, Trump’s lowest share of the vote in Washington was in King County. This year, after its leftward swing, San Juan holds that distinction. The state’s reddest county is Lincoln in Eastern Washington, and it got a little redder this year. Trump won 73.8% of the vote, up a little more than half a percentage point from 2020.Australia will have two drivers in Formula One in 2025, with Jack Doohan set to benefit from one team’s major overhaul. Doohan’s debut will come earlier than expected at this weekend’s season ending Abu Grand Prix after Esteban Ocon and Alpine parted ways with one race left this season. Every qualifying session and race from the 2024 FIA Formula One World ChampionshipTM LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. Doohan will benefit from the hit-out to get some nerves out of his system and experience the pressure of an F1 race ahead of next year’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix. It is a big gamble though, given Alpine is just five points ahead of Haas in the constructors championship heading into the final race of the season. Ocon, 28, signed with Haas earlier this season for 2025 but will end his five-year stint with Alpine early as part of an agreement that allows him to do postseason testing with his new team. The Frenchman’s abrupt departure took the F1 paddock by surprise and brings down the curtain on a tumultuous season for Alpine. F1 pundits have been reflecting on the downfall of Alpine, who at the start of 2022 boasted one of the most solid driver line-ups. At the start of the 2022 season, Alpine unveiled their trio of drivers — Fernando Alonso and Ocon along with reigning F2 champion and reserve driver Oscar Piastri, who was front and centre at the unveiling of the team’s car for that season. Less than two years later, all three are gone and the team has transformed, or capitulated, depending on which way you look at it. Alonso left to join Aston Martin at the end of the 2023 season and is holding out hope car designer Adrian Newey can give him a car that can deliver him a world championship two decades after he won two titles with Renault. Alpine announced Piastri would join the team, only for the Aussie to rebuke that claim , declaring “I will not be driving for Alpine next year” in a post that will go down in F1 social media folklore. Then Pierre Gasly joined Ocon at Alpine on 2023. On paper it was a dream combination — two French drivers driving for a French team. They both began their full-time F1 careers in 2017 and they have very similar records, with one race win each. But Gasly and Ocon have never got on since their relationship deteriorated during their junior karting days. The duo collided on the opening lap of this year’s Monaco Grand Prix and Ocon endured a season from hell. He signed a deal with Haas earlier this year to join the team from 2025. Ocon and Gasly both finished on the podium at the rain affected Brazilian Grand Prix but that was a rare highlight for Ocon, who claimed his sole race win in Hungary in 2021. So where did it all go wrong for Alpine? It’s not just the drivers where Alpine has had significant turnover. Team principal Otmar Szafnauer was sacked mid-season in 2023. Bruno Famin served in that role before Oli Oakes was appointed team principal in August. Alpine’s technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer left the team after the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. In May, Alpine announced Flavio Briatore was returning to the team as special advisor. Briatore managed Doohan, so it would seem the Aussie’s future is tied to Alpine for now. The pairing of Ocon and Gasly was a dream for a motorsport outfit steeped in French history, but the team is losing its French soul made iconic by the Renault brand. When the new era of F1 regulations commence in 2026, Alpine will no longer be a ‘works’ team using a Renault power unit and will instead become a customer team. Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo ordered a review into the F1 operation and in September, it was confirmed staff would continue working on power units for 2025 but the team’s engine base in Viry, France would shut down. The F1 project that has run since the 1970s will cease and resources and around 200 staff would be allocated elsewhere. Alpine has a base in Enstone, England and will have a customer power unit supply for the first time since 2015, when they had a Mercedes engine. The F1 team will work solely out of their factory in the UK. Ocon and Gasly both finished on the podium at the rain affected Brazilian Grand Prix but that was a rare highlight for Ocon, who claimed his sole race win in Hungary in 2021. Not everything is bad for Alpine though. Gasly is in arguably career-best form, qualifying better than ever and helping move Alpine up to sixth in the constructors standings after a fifth-place finish in Qatar. Alpine does have a strong presence in F1 Academy, where Great Britain’s Abbi Pulling is set to clinch this year’s championship for female drivers. Mick Schumacher will race for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship next year. Doohan will be one of five drivers starting their first full season on the grid in 2025, along with Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Ollie Bearman (Haas), Liam Lawson (VCARB) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber). Judging by the year Alpine has had, the 21-year-old son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick Doohan might have his work cut out for him.

Unlikely battleground California plays key role -- again -- in setting US House's political balance

Hatayspor will host Goztepe SK in the Turkish Super Lig on Sunday, with the hosts hoping to end a three-match winless streak and take a big step towards leaving the relegation zone. Meanwhile, the visitors will be looking to win two matches in a row after bouncing back from defeat with a 3-1 victory against Adana Demirspor last time out. © Imago Hatayspor struggled to stay in the top flight last season and have found themselves in a similar predicament this year, currently second from bottom with eight points from 14 matches. The Star of the South failed to win any of their opening 10 matches, and their sole victory came against Gaziantep in their 11th attempt, though they have since failed to record another win. Hatayspor headed into the game against Istanbul Basaksehir on a four-match unbeaten run across all competitions, but they were outclassed 3-0 and could not register more than one attempt on target in the game. Riza Calimbay 's side had a decent mini-run between late October and early December when they won three matches, but two of those victories were in the Turkish Cup, with the other league games in that run producing one defeat and two draws. Avoiding losing streaks will be vital to the top-flight survival of the Star of the South, and this will be what they will look to avoid when they take on a Goztepe side that has proven that they belong at this level. Hatayspor have dominated the recent installments of this fixture, winning the last two, but four losses in the seven times they have hosted this fixture highlights that they have found things difficult against the visitors in the past. © Imago Goztepe are enjoying their return to the top flight, with 24 points from 14 matches currently putting them in sixth place, two points behind fourth-placed Eyupspor who have played one extra game. Stanimir Stoilov 's side successfully bounced back from their loss to Basaksehir with the victory against the league's whipping boys last time out, despite playing over 14 minutes of the game with a man deficit following Ogun Bayrak 's 76th-minute sending off. The biggest issue for Goztepe in this campaign is the disparity between their home and away form – while they are unbeaten at home with six wins from seven games, the visitors have won just once on the road, while losing four of six away matches. Out of their total 20 goals conceded so far, Stoilov's men have conceded 14 on the road, while they have lost four of the last five away matches, though playing at a ground that they have found success more times than not could increase their probability of getting a positive result on Sunday. © Imago Hatayspor could remain without midfielder Massanga Matondo , who is hoping to recover in time from a foot injury to play some part in this clash. Carlos Strandberg , who is the team's top scorer in the Super Lig with three goals, will be looking to earn a place in the starting line-up. Goztepe will have to make do without midfielder Bayrak who was sent off after two yellow cards last time out and is consequently suspended for this clash. Kubilay Kanatsizkus is nursing an ankle injury that makes him doubtful, while Isaac Solet is ruled out of the season with an ACL injury. Chelsea loanee David Datro Fofana is also sidelined for Sunday's game with a thigh injury that is expected to keep him out until January. Hatayspor possible starting lineup: Kardesler; Sertel, Calvo, Kilama, Yilmaz; Diack, Saglam; Bamgboye, Pedro, Fernandes; Aboubakar Goztepe SK possible starting lineup: Lis; Bokele, Heliton, Altikardes; Silva, Hugo, Dennis, Miroshi; Tijanic; Juan, Romulo Goztepe have struggled on the road in this campaign, and this gives Hatayspor an opportunity to have a go at them at home, though we believe that the visitors still have enough quality to get something from the game, which is why we are predicting a stalemate. For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here .

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